Monday, March 16, 2015

Spring is just around the corner, which mean slow times for us, so here's the mish-mash of events coming up in the next few months!! Florida's Endurance events are already ramping up. The 12 Hours of Santos kicked it off last month and events will be in full swing in April with South Florida's Markham 100 followed by the well known Hammerhead 100 in Ocala. Many South Florida racers are taking it to the road after that to Tennessee for the NUE Cohutta 100 and even the USA Cycling Marathon MTB Nationals in Georgia. The event doesn't make it this far South normally so there's plenty of excitement coming out of Florida for it.

The 4G Wristband collection

For the types that prefer the adventure, plenty of Gravel Grinders are popping up. The 2nd installment of the Great Gator Gravel Grinder (The 4G) just passed and brought out a great turnout. Part Gravel Grinder, part scavenger hunt, riders are able to select from two distances and must collect wristbands along the way for a chance at the podium. While not an official race, there's prizes for the Top 3 finishers to successfully find all the wristbands on the course. Organizer Gary Mendenhall and his team do a great job of marking unique and often hidden trails all over South Florida near the Everglades, creating a truly unique event. Added this year was a Scavenger Hunt band, with a riddle for a clue and a small marker to mark its location. I was lucky enough to grab it this year and came away with a set of tires. It was a consolation prize for me as I just missed the podium, coming 4th place for the 2nd year in a row. Still a great event and looking forward to the 2016 4G! Check out some pics of the action below.

May brings us the 6th Annual Fakawi 50, or the Largest MTB Group ride in Florida. A little further north in Weston, Florida, the route typically hits the levees and hidden roads on the edge of the Everglades. Those that live in the area know that it's typically in the middle of rainy season, which usually makes it quite the muddy mess! Its remote locations lends to its name, as in "Where the Fakawi?" This will be my first time tackling the event so looking forward to it!

As for us, we'll be going through some changes for 2015. After three great years, we part way with Bike Tech as a title sponsor. They helped us step up our game and we truly appreciate everything we accomplished together. Our own Eric Norris is turning a new chapter of life and moving to North Carolina, and while he won't be with us, he'll always be part of the team. Our co-founder Alex Serrano is taking a step back from racing this year as well. Boyco and I will carry on and we'll add a couple of more friends to the team, but we'll be taking this as a step back to enjoy the more social aspects of riding. We'll still be at select races and events and posting pics and stories though so keep following along with us! We continue with great sponsors in F2 Performance Labs, ESI Grips, Cytomax, Rudy Project, and Magura. A few of us have even picked up support from clothing brand Twin Six! We're waiting on our new Eclipse kits to arrive, but will be rocking the T6 Metal kit in the near future until then.

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Thanks for visiting our site. Eclipse Racing is a South Florida based Mountain Bike team focused on State and Regional racing as well as MTB news in General. Check back often for news, information, product reviews and race reports.